Two Mile Hill Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 1–2 February 2012 Inspection number 382028 Two Mile Hill Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 136111 Local authority Bristol Inspection number 382028 Inspection dates 1–2 February 2012 Lead inspector Daniel Towl HMI

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Maintained Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 440 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr J Kirk Headteacher Mrs J McAll Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected School address The Kingsway Kingswood Bristol BS15 8AA Telephone number 0117 903 1932 Fax number 0117 903 1949 Email address Two.mile.hill.p@bristol.gov.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors observed 26 lessons or parts of lessons, observed 17 teachers and held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, governors, parents, carers and pupils. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View), in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, looked at the school’s assessment information, policies, development plans, self-evaluation documents, sixty five returned questionnaires from parents and carers, those from staff and pupils and scrutinised other school records.

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Information about the school

Two Mile Hill Primary School is a new school that was recently amalgamated from an infant and a junior school. This is its first inspection.

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Information about the school

It is a larger than average school. The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. Just over 40 per cent of pupils are from minority ethnic groups. The proportion of pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs is around the national average. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs is below average. An average proportion of pupils use English as an additional language but this is increasing. The school meets current floor standards. There is an early years childcare provision and an after-school club which are not managed by the governors. Inspection report Two Mile Hill Primary School, 1–2 February 2012 4 of 12

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Information about the school

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a satisfactory school.  The school is improving in a number of key areas. Following the first year of amalgamation, staffing is now more settled and the senior leadership team is better established with clear roles and responsibilities.  The achievement of pupils is satisfactory and more consistent across the school. The pupils leaving the school in Year 6 in 2011, the first Year 6 group of the amalgamated school, made inadequate progress and the achievement of other pupils across the school was too variable. The rate of pupils’ progress and their achievements are now improving in all year groups.  Most teaching is satisfactory and some is good. Senior leaders regularly monitor the quality of teaching. Areas for improvement are identified and acted upon. As a result, teaching is improving. However, there is not yet enough consistently good or outstanding teaching to ensure that more pupils make

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Key findings

accelerated rather than satisfactory progress.  Behaviour and attendance are improving. Attendance was low but it is now average. As a result of the strategies introduced to manage behaviour, the incidents of poor behaviour have decreased. Pupils are aware of what is expected of them. Successful initiatives have raised pupils’ awareness of tolerance and individual rights.  Provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good and children make good progress.  Senior leaders and the governing body have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school and have taken appropriate and successful steps to secure improvements. Senior leaders’ self-evaluation is not always as sharp as it could be to ensure even more rapid improvement.  While most parents and carers are content with the school, there were some concerns expressed about the lack of information they received and its

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Key findings

timeliness.  Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection. Inspection report Two Mile Hill Primary School, 1–2 February 2012 5 of 12

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Key findings

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of good and outstanding teaching in order to accelerate pupils’ progress across the school by consistently: - planning well thought through tasks to promote effective learning - maintaining a good pace of learning with suitably challenging tasks for pupils of all abilities - using ongoing assessment in lessons more effectively to manage and ‘shape’ pupils’ tasks in order to maximise learning.  Increase the pace of improvements in teaching by sharpening monitoring and evaluation and using shorter timescales to judge the effectiveness of initiatives in improving outcomes for pupils.  Ensure that communication with parents and carers provides them with timely information and increases their understanding of how they can help their children learn and enjoy school.

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Achievement of pupils

Inspection evidence shows that pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 learn satisfactorily in their lessons. They work successfully on tasks that are broadly in line with their age and abilities. Consequently, their progress in the key areas of literacy and numeracy is satisfactory and attainment is broadly average. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage learn effectively and make good progress, especially in their language development. The provision for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage has improved since the schools were amalgamated and this has had a beneficial effect on children’s learning and development.

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Achievement of pupils

The vast majority of parents and carers who returned the questionnaire believe their children are making good progress. Inspectors judged that the progress of pupils in Key Stage 2 during the first year of amalgamation was too variable and the proportion of pupils reaching the expected level in Year 6 was below average in English and mathematics. Careful monitoring of pupils’ progress and better teaching has led to improved progress this year. Given the current rate of progress, early signs indicate that pupils’ achievements will be better and attainment will be broadly average by the end of the year. Although there remains some variation in progress, improvement can be seen across the school.

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Achievement of pupils

The most consistent progress is made in reading. Pupils make a good start in the Early Years Foundation Stage and this momentum is maintained. Pupils in Year 1 develop good skills in reading and use an effective range of strategies, including using picture clues and knowledge of letter sounds to read unknown or difficult words. Pupils in Year 6 read confidently but do not always pay enough attention to Inspection report Two Mile Hill Primary School, 1–2 February 2012 6 of 12

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Achievement of pupils

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

punctuation. Pupils’ attainment in reading in Year 1 and Year 6 are broadly in line with what is expected for their age.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ writing skills are weaker than their reading skills and were below average in the previous year. The school is very aware of this and there is a concerted effort to improve writing across the school. Pupils’ achievements are now improving. There are good examples of pupils writing effectively for a range of purposes in, for example, geography, history and science. Teachers are successfully using an initiative to use good quality texts to promote interest in literacy and act as a stimulus for writing. The quality of writing is sometimes let down in Key Stage 2, however, by poor presentation and inaccurate spelling.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils who use English as an additional language make good progress overall in their literacy skills and satisfactory progress in mathematics. Di sabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make satisfactory progress. They engage effectively with their tasks in whole class and group activities.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching is mostly satisfactory and there is some that is good. Inspectors observed no inadequate teaching. Teaching is improving and this is resulting in pupils’ better progress in English and mathematics. Teachers are generally well prepared and plan interesting activities. The vast majority of parents and carers who returned questionnaires felt that their children were taught well. Most pupils who completed questionnaires were positive about the quality of teaching. During informal discussion with inspectors, pupils said that they were interested in a wide range of subjects.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is good in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children are active and engaged in their learning because teachers successfully match activities to their needs. There is a good balance of teacher-led activities and those that are initiated by the children themselves.

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Quality of teaching

There are examples across the school of skilful teaching where the pace of learning is maintained with timely reminders to pupils of what needs to be achieved and where confident well-thought-out activities promoted pupils’ interests and skills. For example, in one class, pupils carefully listened to a teacher expertly reading a text and then responded thoughtfully about the feelings the characters in the passage might have had.

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Quality of teaching

Most teaching is enabling pupils to make satisfactory progress but there are missed opportunities to increase the challenge for pupils. In some lessons, tasks do not have the potential to allow pupils to move on more quickly. Teachers do not always use ongoing assessment effectively in lessons to make adaptations to tasks to provide more challenge. This means that pupils are sometimes involved in completing work that is neither stretching nor sufficiently engaging to promote good progress. Inspection report Two Mile Hill Primary School, 1–2 February 2012 7 of 12

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Quality of teaching

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

Work is regularly marked and there are good examples where teachers give clear information to pupils about how to improve. The quality of teachers’ marking is not consistently good. Older pupils told inspectors that they find teachers’ comments helpful. They were also aware of their targets and the levels in which they were working.

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Quality of teaching

Lessons provide good opportunities for pupils to work together and share ideas in an environment where individual contributions are respected. Pupils mostly get on well together in pairs and groups. There are high expectations of behaviour. This contributes effectively to the moral and social development of pupils and enables them to develop self-esteem. Generally, classrooms have a good climate for learning.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils’ behaviour is satisfactory and improving. Questionnaire returns from parents, carers and pupils mostly indicated that behaviour was not a concern. At the start of the amalgamation, there were some pupils who exhibited very challenging behaviour. Since the start of this academic year, a new and effective behaviour strategy has been introduced. Incidents of poor behaviour have reduced markedly. Improved classroom management and a more engaging curriculum have helped to improve behaviour. Inspectors observed no disruptive or poor behaviour in lessons or at other times. In discussions with inspectors, pupils said that behaviour was satisfactory or good most of the time. Pupils are very aware of the expectations and sanctions if they transgress. ‘Class charters’ help to make clear the expectations of behaviour and cooperation.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

There are a few reported incidents of bullying. There are clear procedures for dealing with any incidents. In a few written comments on returned questionnaires from parents and carers, there were mixed negative and positive views about how well issues of bullying were dealt with. In discussion with inspectors, most pupils said that staff dealt promptly with any incidents of bullying or racism and that it was not tolerated. The school is developing a higher awareness of types of bullying with pupils.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are mostly willing to engage with their activities and they respond well to instructions from staff. Pupils are well supervised and the school operates safely. Older pupils were able to talk knowledgably about internet safety. The school has implemented successful strategies to improve attendance which has moved from below average to average in the last twelve months.

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Leadership and management

It is only since the start of this academic year, the school’s second, that there has been a substantive senior leadership team. This new better established team has had a positive impact on school improvement. Leaders at all levels have a clear view about what should be done to improve the school and raise pupils’ achievements. Roles and responsibilities are clear. There has been improvement in several areas of Inspection report Two Mile Hill Primary School, 1–2 February 2012 8 of 12

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Leadership and management

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Leadership and management

 Pupils are making better progress.  Pupils’ attendance and behaviour are improving.  Teaching is satisfactory but improving.  The Early Years Foundation Stage is more effective and gives children a good start.

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Leadership and management

Senior leaders are aware that there needs to be more consistently good teaching to accelerate pupils’ progress and a number of initiatives have been introduced to achieve this. Senior leaders regularly monitor teaching, and information from assessment is scrutinised to check on the progress of every pupil. While senior leaders have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school, their self-evaluation could be sharper and more finely tuned to provide shorter-term targets for improvement. The governing body is active and fulfils its statutory role. Governors have a good understanding of the school’s performance and are fully aware of key issues such as pupil progress.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is suitably broad and projects such as using high quality texts to promote literacy are successfully raising pupils’ achievements and interests in reading and writing. Other specific initiatives, to help pupils who are behind with reading to catch up, are successful.

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Leadership and management

Senior leaders are alert to issues of bullying and racism and the few incidents have reduced as a result of developing greater awareness of pupils’ personal responsibility and improving behaviour management. Initiatives, such as the pupils’ school council, pupil prefects, ‘global ambassadors’ and a project to develop pupils’ understanding of respecting ‘rights’, successfully help develop a sense of responsibility and consideration for others. Arrangements for safeguarding pupils, including procedures on matters of child protection, are satisfactory.

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Leadership and management

Communication with parents and carers is satisfactory. Some parents and carers felt that communication with the school could be more informative and sometimes timelier. The school has started a parent council to provide additional opportunities to communicate more formally but this is at an early stage of development.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

Thank you for your help when we inspected your school. We were very interested in what you had to say to us about your school and in finding out what you were learning in your lessons.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

The school is giving you a satisfactory education. The school has only just started as a primary school and we could see that there are several ways in which the school is getting better. More of you are coming to school regularly. This is important because it means that you are not missing lessons. This will help you learn better. Behaviour has improved too so, as we saw, your lessons are not interrupted and you can get on with your work.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

We judged that most of you are making satisfactory progress and we have asked the headteacher to work with the teachers to ensure that you learn even better and make good progress. We want teachers to make sure that the activities planned for you always give you a challenge and that you are busy producing good quality work in lessons.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

We want the headteacher and senior leaders to make checks more often on how well the school is improving. We also want them to make sure that your parents and carers receive all the information that they need to know what is going on in school and how they can help you learn.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

You can help your school improve by continuing to go to school as regularly as you can and by continuing to ensure that you all get on well and respect each other.

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Inspection of Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol BS15 8AA

Daniel Towl HMI Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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